Nagpur, Apr 23 (PTI) A Nagpur-based businessman and his son have been booked for cheating and forgery after it came to light that they used a fake number plate on their Mercedes car to avoid paying traffic challans (fines), police officials said on Wednesday.

The accused were identified by police as businessman Harish Devicharan Tiwari (50) and his son Yash Harish (25), residents of a residential colony on Wardha Road.

The original registration number of their Mercedes car is (MH-31/EX-9993), but for almost a year, they were using a duplicate number plate (MH-02/DZ-50610) which belongs to another Mercedes owner, Hanit Singh Arora, a resident of Mira Road near Mumbai, said the traffic police officials.

The fraud came to light when the Mercedes with the fake number plate was found parked in a no-parking zone near a mall in the city, they said.

Head Constable Surendra Pagare from Sonegaon Traffic Zone scanned the number in the e-challan system and found it to be listed as “suspicious”. The number was already flagged because the real owner, Singh, had earlier complained that his car was not in Nagpur though he had received e-challan messages for traffic violations in the Vidarbha city, said the officials.

After spotting the car, police called Harish Tiwari and his son Yash, a student, for questioning. They arrived without the vehicle’s documents. The luxury car was seized and during investigation, police found out that four challans had been issued on this fake number in the past year, they said.

Police filed an FIR against the father-son duo under multiple sections of the new criminal code BNS, including those related to cheating and forgery. PTI COR RSY